Shipped / Design Systems
Scaling a shared e-commerce system across multiple client builds
Applying an existing design system responsibly to support scale, flexibility, and long-term maintainability across enterprise clients.
Impact
Enabled multiple enterprise retail clients to ship faster on a shared platform, without fragmenting the underlying system.
I applied an existing design system at scale, balancing delivery speed, brand flexibility, and long-term maintainability across storefronts with very different needs.
Context
A shared system supporting many clients introduces different risks than a single-product environment.
Rather than designing new systems per client, the challenge was adapting real product needs to a shared foundation while preserving consistency, flexibility, and delivery speed over time.
I worked at a digital commerce agency supporting multiple enterprise retail clients on a shared, desktop-first e-commerce platform. The platform relied on an internal design system intended to accelerate delivery across storefronts.
Problem framed as Risk
Using a design system irresponsibly can break both speed and scale.
The challenge wasn’t the absence of a design system. It was how to use one responsibly across many clients.
On the other end, overly rigid system usage resulted in:
On one end of the spectrum, bespoke client builds led to:
Without clear guidance, the platform risked becoming neither flexible nor scalable, undermining the very efficiency the system was meant to provide.
Constraints and Non-Negotiables
This work had to operate within fixed technical and organizational constraints.
The goal wasn’t visual reinvention, but sustainable system application over time.
System Strategy
Scale came from reusable structure, not surface-level customization.
Rather than designing one-off solutions per client, the work focused on defining reusable patterns that could flex across implementations.
This included:
The emphasis was on structure, predictability, and reuse, not cosmetic customization.
A shared catalog experience scaled across breakpoints while preserving information hierarchy.
A baseline Product Detail page designed for reuse across multiple client implementations.
Variant behaviours handled through shared logic rather than bespoke layouts per client.
End-to-end transactional flows ensured consistent behavior across client builds.
My Role
I focused on systems integration and delivery enablement, not visual polish.
I was responsible for:
This work translated abstract system rules into practical guidance teams could reliably ship against.
Key TradeOffs
Protecting the system required deliberate decisions about what could flex.
Key decisions included:
Tokens vs Components
Deciding which values required flexibility and which should remain fixed
Fixed vs Themable Layers
Enabling brand differentiation without fragmenting structure
Extension vs Enforcement
Extending the system only when reuse would block real client needs
Information Architecture
Designing layouts that encouraged reuse rather than exceptions
These decisions ensured the system stayed adaptable without becoming bespoke.
Outcome
The system scaled more reliably as new clients and requirements were added.
This work led to:
Most importantly, it established guardrails that allowed the platform to grow without sacrificing coherence.
Reflection
At scale, flexibility isn’t about how much a system can bend, but how consistently it behaves under change.
Designing for multiple clients required resisting short-term customization in favor of long-term system health. By prioritizing shared structure over surface-level differentiation, the platform remained adaptable without becoming fragmented.
This case represents my strength in systems thinking, long-term judgment, and designing for durability across teams, clients, and time.
